Building an incubator

[kman]

I want to automatically control humidity in the new incubator that i am building and i wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on how i would do this, Just a little background on this bator it is 5' by 4' by 4' it is being controlled by a PLC (it was free is the only reason i am using it) but this thing is going to be awesome but i want it to be so that i never have to open the door thought about ways i could use a humdistat but i am lost on what to have it turn on is misters a good idea or a solenoid float switch and a pan for water?
Any help input or new ideas on this would be great as i have googled it a hundred times and haven't found any ideas what so ever.

 

[quintinp]

I want to automatically control humidity in the new incubator that i am building and i wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on how i would do this, Just a little background on this bator it is 5' by 4' by 4' it is being controlled by a PLC (it was free is the only reason i am using it) but this thing is going to be awesome but i want it to be so that i never have to open the door thought about ways i could use a humdistat but i am lost on what to have it turn on is misters a good idea or a solenoid float switch and a pan for water?
Any help input or new ideas on this would be great as i have googled it a hundred times and haven't found any ideas what so ever.

To me it sounds like you are looking for a way to keep from ever opening the door.

Have you thought of adding some kind of funnel and tubing from the outside of the incubator to add water in?

It sounds to me like you are wanting to start a project.

You could use Rebelcowboysnb humidity controller design, but don't buy the fogger that he promotes, buy one of those misting fountains at the dollar store.

I doubt he'd mind me giving you the link.

http://cmfarm.us/humiditycontrol.html

 

[JimnTer]

Being from Ms, you may not be familiar with furnace humidifiers, but they are pretty common up here in Canada. They have a water pan and float valve very similar to the idea you already mentioned. They have a plastic drum with a sponge that slips over it. the bottom of the sponge sits in the pan of water and when the humidistat calls for humidity it turns on a motor that rotates the drum. Air is diverted from the furnace blower through the open end of the drum, out through the sponge and into the furnace ductwork. These units are about the same size as a 4 slice toaster, cost about $80 up here and work on 24V AC (the same as many thermostats and most doorbells). You would have to rig up a blower motor and ducting to draw air out of the incubator and blow it through the drum/sponge and back into the incubator, but that isn't that complicated. You could have a flapper type "valve" (similar to whats on a dryer vent) at the out take and inlet points to isolate the humidifier from the incubator when the humidifier is not needed. When the humidistsat calls for humidity, the plc turns on the blower motor and the drum motor and the blower motor would cause both flaps to open.

These are just my thoughts on your idea. I hope it's of some help to you.

 

[kman]

thank you both those ideas are just what i needed to both very similar in the way they will work and they informed me of common things to be used in my incubator